NAME

STUDENT ID

: ajeng zita h.
: 201310100311025

Development of Writing System

Writing system is a set of visible or tactile used to represent units of language in a systemic way and
related to the term of script and orthography (Coulmas, 1999). A script is the graphic form of the unit of a
writing (Coulmas, 2003), or currently called letters and characters. Orthography is a set of rules for using a
script in a particular language like symbol-sound correspondences, capitalization, hyphenation, punctuation, and
so on.
Historical Changes in Writing System
1. Tokens as Precursor of Writing
The tokens, used as counters to keep track of goods, were the earliest codea system of signs for
transmitting information. Each token shape was semantic, referring to a particular unit of merchandise
(Schmandt-Besserat 1992).
2. Pictography: Writing as Accounting Device
Pictographssigns representing tokens traced with a stylus rather than impressedappeared about 3100
BC. Pictographs referring to goods mark an important step in the evolution of writing because they were
never repeated in one-to-one correspondence to express quantity.
3. Logography: Shift from Visual to Aural
logogramssigns representing a word in a particular tongue. Logograms were easily drawn pictures of
words with a sound close to that desired (for example in English the name Neil could be written with a sign
showing bent knees kneel).
4. The Alphabet: The Segmentation of Sounds
The invention of the alphabet about 1500 BC ushered in the third phase in the evolution of writing in the
ancient Near East (Sass 2005). The first, so-called Proto-Sinaitic or Proto-Canaanite alphabet. It consisted of
a set of 22 letters, each standing for a single sound of voice, which, combined in countless ways, allowed for
an unprecedented flexibility for transcribing speech (Powell 2009).
5. The Modern Alphabets
Because the alphabet was invented only once, all the many alphabets of the world, including Latin, Arabic,
Hebrew, Amharic, Brahmani and Cyrillic, derive from Proto-Sinaitic. The Latin alphabet used in the western
world is the direct descendant of the Etruscan alphabet (Bonfante 2002). The Etruscans adopted the Greek
alphabet, slightly modifying the shape of letters. Charlemagne (800 AD) had a profound influence on the
development of the Latin script by establishing standards. In particular a clear and legible minuscule cursive
script was devised, from which our modern day lower case derives. The printing press invented in 1450
dramatically multiplied the dissemination of texts, introducing a new regularity in lettering and layout.
SOURCES
The Evolution of Writing. Retrieved from https://sites.utexas.edu/dsb/tokens/the-evolution-of-writing/
Joshua J. (28 April 2011). Writing: Definiton. Retrieved from http://www.ancient.eu/writing/
Cheng L. Introduction in The Evolution Of English Writing System: A Review Of Spelling Reform.